Dragon Moon (11 page)

The man with the knife drew his hand back, ready to plunge the blade into her heart. There was a piece of goat’s meat stuck between his teeth. Ping closed her eyes.

Voices suddenly rang out, piercing the night. The hands holding her loosened. Ping opened her eyes. The guards were ignoring her completely.

To the east, two yellow fires blossomed like chrysanthemums.

“Two beacons!” someone shouted. “An attack! Three thousand barbarians!”

The commander yelled out orders, but no one listened to him. Each man ran to get his weapons, concerned only with his own survival. The ragtag imperial guards clambered up onto the wall facing north, their crossbows aimed into the darkness. Several men were still trying to get the long-neglected beacons alight to alert the next tower. The commander was attempting to organise a squad of men to go out and attack the barbarians. He wasn’t having much luck. No one wanted to face the invisible enemy. Scuffles broke out among the men.

Ping took advantage of this disorder and crept towards the inner gate. She slipped out the bolt that held it shut and wrenched the gate open. The guards had finally managed to light the beacon. The light from the flames illuminated her escape.

“Get the girl!” someone shouted. “Send
her
out. If
there are barbarians outside, they’ll go after her!”

The guards had found something they could all agree on. Ping was captive again. Only this time instead of tying her up, they thrust a sword in her hands and pushed her through the outer gate and out of the Empire.

She ran headlong into the night. It was her only hope of freedom. With the sword pointed straight ahead, she screamed as if she had the force of a thousand courageous imperial guards behind her. She ran down the bank of sand, tripped and fell, got up and ran again. She lashed out at the barbarians who stood in her way, slashing the sword in all directions and not flinching when it met with resistance.

It was several minutes before she realised that the things in her way weren’t barbarians, but trees. She was lopping off branches, not arms and legs. She stopped, both hands grasping the sword hilt, breathing hard. No one attacked her. She turned a full circle. She was surrounded by nothing more than the dark shapes of trees and rocks. She listened for the sounds of barbarian attack that she had heard at Beibai Palace—the thunder of horses’ hooves, strange gurgling cries, shouts in a foreign language. There were none.

Behind her, she could hear the muffled uproar of fighting and voices raised in anger as the imperial guards still argued about who should face the barbarians. She
held the sword ready for barbarians to pounce on her. Nothing happened.

She turned another full circle. Suddenly the rocks around her came to life. They reared up and turned into cloaked men. For the second time that day, Ping’s hands were grabbed and tied behind her. She couldn’t believe the garrison men had been so quick and stealthy. She twisted round. The men holding her weren’t imperial guards. They were barbarians.

Ping struggled to free herself, but the hands that gripped her were strong and determined. They pulled her through the undergrowth. Branches slapped her in the face. She lost her footing and fell. Someone dragged her back to her feet by the armpits, lifted her effortlessly, and threw her over the back of a horse. Rough hands tied her behind the horse’s saddle as another cloaked figure mounted the horse. Before she could raise her head to look at her captors, the horse began moving, building up to a gallop. Each time the horse’s hooves hit
the ground Ping felt the breath knocked out of her. She wondered if they’d captured Kai as well. She knew what barbarians were capable of. She’d heard about what they did to their captives—cutting off their fingers, blinding them with burning sticks, putting them in holes filled with venomous snakes. There were three more horses galloping behind, but she couldn’t see if one of them carried Kai. She listened for his voice, but it wasn’t there. She had no choice but to allow herself to be bounced around on the back of the horse like a side of beef.

There was a saying that Lao Ma, the old woman at Huangling Palace, was very fond of repeating.
Out of the wolf’s den, into the tiger’s mouth
. Just a few weeks earlier, Ping’s only concern had been that the entire population of the Empire had seemed to want to be her friend. She’d had no enemies. Now people on both sides of the Great Wall wanted to harm her.

She tried to make sense of what had happened. Only a handful of barbarians had attacked the garrison. They had captured her, but ignored the imperial guards, leaving them cowering inside their barracks. She wondered if the barbarians had been tracking her. Perhaps that’s why she’d had the feeling someone was following them. She had heard stories of how the Xiong Nu sacrificed white horses and drank their blood. She couldn’t bear to think what they might do if they got their hands on a dragon. On the other hand, there were
also tales of the barbarians making human sacrifices to their gods. Perhaps it wasn’t Kai they wanted at all—but her. She called to Kai in her mind but there was still no reply. Perhaps they had left him behind.

The horses galloped through the darkness for a long time. The ropes tying her arms and legs rubbed her skin until it felt like they were burning her. Ping couldn’t tell whether she was awake and bouncing on the back of a horse or just dreaming that she was.

The horses stopped as the sky was turning grey. Ping was untied and pulled from the horse. Her legs were numb and she couldn’t stand. One of the barbarians carried her, putting her down outside a low hut. The sky grew lighter. It was above her and all around her. It stretched to the horizon on all sides. They had left the mountains and the Great Wall far behind. There wasn’t a tree or a rock in sight, just an endless plain, bare except for tufts of yellow grass. She could see now that it wasn’t a hut she’d been brought to, it was a tent—a large, black tent made from thick felt. A group of about 20 smaller tents was huddled around the central tent, like sleeping animals. There was also a corral made of branches that secured a herd of several hundred horses. Steam rose from the horses’ backs as the sunlight warmed them. They were handsome beasts—tall and slender, with flowing manes, nothing like the short, stocky imperial horses. Several of the nearest horses studied her with interest. They looked powerful and intelligent.

It was only after she’d finished admiring the horses that she looked at her captors. They were dark men with their hair tied in plaits. They wore sleeveless jackets made of animal skins, and leather belts with shiny gold buckles. Their felt breeches were tucked into high boots. Each man wore a fur-lined leather hat. They glanced at her and muttered to each other, making harsh sounds that Ping couldn’t understand. They smelt different to the people of the Empire. They had a sharp odour that reminded her of the goats she’d taken care of when she was a slave.

The tent flap opened and a man came out. Ping was sitting on the ground because her legs wouldn’t work. The man towered over her. His clothing was like the other men’s except that he wore a silk shirt beneath his jacket. She had a closer view of his gold buckle. It was fashioned into the shape of two animals locked in a fight. It was hard to believe that such simple people could make such an elegant ornament.

The riders fell silent and the man spoke to them in their coarse-sounding language. Ping realised she had no way of communicating with these people. She couldn’t explain anything to them. She couldn’t even beg for her life. The riders turned and left. Someone had re-kindled the embers of a fire. The man gestured for her to sit next to it. As the darkness melted away, more details of the camp were revealed. A smaller pen contained a flock of sheep. Several camels were grazing on the sparse grass.
There was somebody on the other side of the fire. Ping’s heart thudded. It wasn’t a person. It was a dragon. He was slumped in a heap. She struggled to her feet and rushed over to him.

“Kai!” she shouted. “What have the barbarians done to you?”

She fell to her knees next to him. He opened his eyes and yawned.

“Nothing.”

“Are their weapons causing you pain?”

“No. Swords and spears are made of bronze.”

“You’re not hurt?”

“No.”

“Were you on one of the horses?”

“Yes.”

“But I spoke to you with my mind. You didn’t reply.”

“Sleeping.”

“It was so uncomfortable! How could you possibly sleep?”

“Kai can sleep anywhere.”

The man was watching her with interest. Ping hadn’t realised that she had spoken aloud.

“I was told that you could read the dragon’s mind,” the man said. Though he was speaking to Ping, he didn’t take his eyes off Kai.

She turned to the man in surprise. He was speaking the language of the Empire. A woman walked over
and handed Ping a wooden bowl. She put one on the ground for Kai but wouldn’t go near him.

Ping looked at the contents of the bowl. Steam rose from a greyish liquid. It smelt worse than the barbarians.

“Drink,” the barbarian said. “Renew your strength. I apologise for the rough journey on horseback, but my men do not speak your language. They had no words to tell you they meant you no harm. If they had lingered, the guards of the wall would have fired arrows at them … and you.”

Kai slurped his hot drink hungrily.

“Tastes good,” he said to Ping.

Ping was cold and hungry. She sipped the grey liquid and pulled a face. It tasted like rancid milk.

“It is
kumiss
, a drink made from mare’s milk,” the man said. “It might not be to your taste, but drink it anyway. It will do you good.”

Ping held her breath and swallowed a mouthful of the sour drink. The taste made her shudder, but it did warm her.

“We are wandering people who live by drawing the bow. We don’t grow grains and vegetables like the people of the Empire. All our food comes from our animals or the hunt.”

Ping looked at the strange man.

“My name is Hou-yi,” he said. “I am chief of this tribe of wanderers. I see many questions in your eyes.”

“How do you come to know the language of the Empire?” Ping asked.

“I learned it from my father.”

That didn’t explain anything.

“A generation ago, our Great King made a truce with the Emperor of the southern lands,” Hou-yi continued. “To prove that he meant to keep the truce, the Emperor sent one of his daughters to be the consort of our Great King.”

“A sister of the old Emperor?”

Hou-yi nodded.

“Our Great King learned from fighting the soldiers of the Empire. He united all the tribes who live by drawing the bow. Together the tribes defeated the Empire and your old Emperor was forced to make a treaty agreeing to give us silk and wine every year. His sister was included in the deal. She came with her servants and a learned man who was her tutor. He became my father’s friend and taught him how to speak the language of the Empire.”

Princess Yangxin wasn’t the only imperial woman to be sent away as a peace offering. Growing up as a slave, Ping had imagined that anyone who was rich and royal could do whatever they pleased. Now she knew that wasn’t so. A rich woman could be given away in the barter for peace, traded like a prize horse. At least Princess Yangxin still lived within the Empire. Liu Che’s father, the old Emperor, had
sent his sister beyond the Great Wall to live among the barbarians.

“So why did you capture Kai and me?”

“For your protection. News of your journey had reached us. A message arrived asking us to look out for you if you came within our territory. The men of the Ji Liao Garrison are ignorant and cruel. When we found out that you had been taken by them, I sent men to rescue you. They could have been more gentle, but you are safe now. You can continue your journey.”

“We aren’t prisoners?”

“You are free to go whenever you choose.”

Ping had many more questions to ask, but Hou-yi stopped them by raising his hand. He went over to where his people were gathered. Together they knelt, facing the rising sun, and prayed. Ping particularly wanted to know who had sent the message to look out for them. It must have been the Duke. She was glad that she had left him on good terms. If it hadn’t been for his message, she would have been dead by now at the hands of the guard from Ming Yang Lodge.

Ping turned to Kai. “You didn’t leave,” she said quietly.

“Did leave.”

Ping’s heart felt as it someone were squeezing it.

“But Kai changed mind, thought Ping might get lost on her own.”

Ping had a sudden thought. She remembered the
fourth line of the
Yi Jing
reading.
A dragon about to leap hesitates. There will be no mistake
.

“I suppose you could say that you were about to leap, but you hesitated?” said Ping.

“Like in the old book.”

“Yes. And there was no mistake, just as it said. Here we are outside the Empire at the mercy of the barbarians, but we’re safe, safer than we were within the Empire.”

Once the prayers were over, everyone ate the morning meal which had been prepared by the Xiong Nu women. The women were as dark-skinned as the men. They wore long skirts and felt shoes. Beneath their jackets they wore blouses made of coloured silk. One of them came over with bowls of food for Ping and Kai. She wouldn’t come close to the dragon and left the bowls on the ground at a distance. She wore a gold necklace suspended from jade earrings which swung beneath her chin as she bent down. Ping picked up the bowls. They contained lumps of milk curd and strips of cooked meat.

Kai speared one of the curds with a talon and inspected it suspiciously before tasting it with the tip of his red tongue. Then he put it in his mouth and chewed.